No Despacito needed, these 5 new desi bands are better

We know. There’s only so many times you can listen to ‘Despacito’ or ‘Pop The Bottle’, right? To help you break free from musical monotony, we’ve rounded up some of the most promising up-and-coming musicians in the country. They’re dynamic in form, experimental in sound, and are definitely worth keeping tabs on in the coming year:

1) Kyojin

Image Credit: Kyojin

This acoustic and punk rock band is from Bangalore is comprised of 4 teenagers: Pradyun Deep Singh, Rahul Menon, Arvind Krishnan and Aayush Varghese. Why name their band ‘Kyojin’? “Kyojin in Japanese translates to something along the lines of ‘Giant’, which we thought was ironic, since we’re pretty small ourselves”, they explain in an interview with Deccan Herald.

In between working on school assignments and preparing for tests, they released their debut album titled ‘Tana.’ Written and composed entirely by Rahul and Aayush, ‘Tana’ demonstrates a surprising maturity, revealing life from the point of view of a minor, and focuses on addressing the negativity society faces on a daily basis. “We hope that our music will make lives better and happier, just as it has done for us”, they state.

Listen to ‘Tana’ here, and as the band will soon release two more albums, stay updated by following them on Facebook too.

2) Kimochi Youkai

Another Japanese band name you’re going to need to remember is ‘Kimochi Youkai’ which translates to ‘feel good demons.’

This 5-member band from Mumbai comprises Ambika Nayak (vocals), Nirmit Shah (keyboard), Dhruv Sarker (drummer), Bishan Pukhrambam (guitarist), and Vishal Singh (bassist). The band often rework classics from different genres twisting and tweaking it with their ‘feel good’ style, which has the effect of blending nostalgia with a new fresh take.

The brand has promised new material soon, so follow them on Facebook and stay tuned.

3) Smalltalk

Image Credit: Smalltalk

This four member neo-soul band based in Mumbai is not really up-and-coming given that they’re already making waves around the country but we decided to add them to the list given that they are around only a year old.

Samarth Bahl (vocalist and guitarist), Siddharth Shankar (guitarist), Yohann Coutinho (bassist) and Linford Owen (drummer) won the second edition of Pune’s most popular band hunt Bandcubator, along with a 4 city tour with Mixtape, an EP recording deal at Mumbai’s Cotton Press Studio and a music video slot on 9XO.

Influenced by a miscellany of artists such as Vanilla, D’Angelo, Hiatus Kaiyote, and Erykah Badu, the band crafts songs that are hook-driven and extremely catchy.

Musical duo Sharan Punjabi and Raghu Vamshi have been creating music together since 2015, taking turns on the console to blend melodies, harmonies and time signatures into an intriguing and addictive soundscape.

They draw inspiration from the pioneers of various genres including Chopin and Tchaikovsky, Pandit Hariprasad Caurasia, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Nicolas Jaar and Bonobo to name a few. But they also experiment with new technology, and strive to find more artistic and dynamic ways of depicting human culture in order to create a unique signature sound. Indeed, you’ll be surprised to pick out sounds that you encounter in daily life, such as ‘Bluetooth connectivity’ alerts in your phone and excerpts from Arnab Goswamis debates on TV.

Aditi Ramesh is a Mumbai-based singer-songwriter who quit her job as a corporate lawyer for a career in music, and boy are we glad that she did.

Noted for her ‘herculean’ voice, Aditi is an exceptional vocalist, possessing a range of techniques and tonal modulations. Her songs are influenced by jazz, the blues as well as traditional Carnatic melodies (in which she has been trained in her childhood), although she has recently begun exploring various styles and collaborating with independent artists too.

She describes her music as “using the mundane, as a foundation for depicting the nuanced realities facing everybody on a recurrent basis, while at the same time having a sonic content which provides funky, groovy and melodic resolutions.”

Her lyrics are quirky, addressing the charms and tribulations of the everyday, making her songs relatable to everyone (we recommend giving her ‘Efflux of Time’ a listen). She plans to record and release more original music next year, so stay tuned to her Facebook page.

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